How Charles Matthews Has Learned to 'Thrive' in the Michigan Basketball Culture
3/14/2018 11:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Features
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By Steve Kornacki
WICHITA, Kan. -- For University of Michigan basketball team guard Charles Matthews, his hoops journey began without a backboard, which had been blown down in a storm. He shot only at a rim connected to a metal pole in his grandmother's backyard on Chicago's South Side.
Charles, the second of three basketball-playing brothers at Chicago's St. Rita High, got pretty good at the game and moved onto Kentucky during the height of its one-and-done era. But after one season in Lexington, after starting three games and averaging 1.7 points, Charles decided it was not the right place for him.
Michigan -- a school that did not even recruit him at St. Rita -- became the choice.
"I just felt good here and felt good with the coaching staff," said Matthews.
He sat out the required year as per NCAA transfer rules and gained the respect of the Wolverines by playing so hard and well on the scout team, preparing them for the next opponents. That is not an easy role for a high school superstar -- one who finished runner-up to Villanova star Jalen Brunson for the Illinois Mr. Basketball award -- to accept.
But Charles thrived in that role, then had to deal with the rust that comes with a year away from true game speed. At times he looked brilliant. At times he looked lost. But then the former condition started outweighing the latter one, and it was pretty evident during Michigan's Big Ten Tournament championship run that Matthews was finding his groove and making a difference on both offense and defense.
What does Matthews know now that he did not comprehend when team practices began in the fall?
"It's really just the simple things that come with paying attention to details," he said after practice here Wednesday (March 14). "It's the same things Coach (John Beilein) has been on me about since summertime, and I would brush it off. But now I'm noticing that those simple things honestly do make you more efficient on the court.
"It's not like I've 'got it' yet, but I do think that I'm continuing to learn and continuing to improve. I'm understanding more of the defensive concepts, and understanding position on the floor and more angles that I can use to my advantage. It took a while for me to adjust both in basketball and socially as well. But this culture and this environment, I continue to grow in it and thrive in it. It's a great university and basketball program, but it definitely took time to adjust for me."
Matthews heads into Thursday's (March 15) NCAA Tournament opener with Montana ranked second in both scoring (12.6) and rebounding (5.4) to team leader Moritz Wagner, and is also third with 2.6 assists.
"What I love about him right now is that -- with the exception of a couple of practices -- he recognizes what he has to work on," said Beilein. "A couple times frustration got the best of him, and he self-corrected.
"So, he wants to be a very good player. He wants to be a very good teammate. He wants to play the game the right way. And every day, he takes steps in that direction. For a young man like that to be at the University of Michigan and playing like that, and he's an outstanding student. He's a 'B' student and as a result, it's great to have him be a part of this program.
"To be highly recruited and go to Kentucky, I think it would be fair to say that not a lot of guys that we have on this team, guys that have been very successful, didn't come in with that reputation. Yet, he's certainly embraced our culture and has really grown through it."
Beilein said he was never involved in recruiting Matthews when he played at St. Rita, where he averaged 21.3 points and 6.2 rebounds as a senior and was rated the No. 42 prospect in the nation by ESPN.
"I got a blind call from his high school coach (Gary DeCesare) who thought we'd be a good fit when he decided to leave Kentucky," said Beilein. "Caris LeVert was graduating and Zak Irvin was going to be a senior. So, in that position -- that 2-3 that we call the 'Wolf' position -- we needed somebody who could score baskets for us and guard multiple positions as well."
Matthews (6-foot-6 and 200 pounds with a 42-inch vertical jump) filled that bill perfectly, so the "fit" ended up being good for the Wolverines as well.
Wolverines head coach John Beilein said of Charles Matthews, "He wants to be a very good player. He wants to be a very good teammate. He wants to play the game the right way. And every day, he takes steps in that direction."
There's also an edge to his game that shows up in heated competition. He did not back down from Michigan State's Nick Ward during a confrontation two weeks ago in the Big Ten tourney at Madison Square Garden. They went eye-to-eye and exchanged words, Matthews wearing a smile all the while.
"He's a competitor," said Wolverines tri-captain Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. "Charles is always competing and wants to do whatever it takes for the team to win. You've got to respect that, and you've got to love that about him."
Tai Streets, the MVP of the 1998 Michigan football team at receiver who also spent part of one season on the Wolverine basketball team, has contributed to that attitude. Streets coached Matthews, as well as stars such as Anthony Davis, on his Meanstreets AAU basketball team.
"He has an intensity to him," Matthews said of Streets. "He's also a very caring guy who gives his all to that program and his players. He's a really great guy."
Matthews' parents, Nicole and Charles, always made sure their sons were kept active in school and athletics to avoid the lure of the truly "mean" streets of Chicago. Charles played high school basketball and carried his love of the game to his sons. Dominique has averaged 9.9 points in three seasons as a guard at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and Jordan is a standout senior point guard at St. Rita.
Charles notes that "it's a myth" that the three of them were named for his father's basketball heroes, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan. He was named for his father, though they have different middle names.
They were all close to their grandmother, Mary Matthews, who died in December. Charles returned from her funeral to score 20 points and grab seven rebounds in a game against the University of Detroit.
"That's what life is all about," said Charles. "You have to overcome adversity, and still flourish. I didn't want to use her death as an excuse to regress, and just played this season in her name. It wasn't to forget about her, but to move on with what she would've wanted me to do."
He said Grandma Mary did not have a love a basketball, but had a love of her grandsons, and she enjoyed watching them shoot at that rim on a pole in her backyard.
"I fell in love with basketball playing in my grandmother's backyard," Charles said. "I found that pure love of the game. It was carefree, and where I honed my game and my instincts.
"It was just a steel pole and the rim."
He giggled at the thought. Charles and his brothers still play there when they go home. It is their roots.
When the Wolverines won the Big Ten title, Matthews got ahold of the tournament trophy in the locker room and sat there just hugging it.
"I just grasped the fact that I can be a champion," said Matthews. "I can be a huge aspect on maybe a championship team. That's not an easy task. It was my first time playing in the Garden, playing in New York, and to feel like a champion.
"I just made up my mind to go out there and give everything I can to help this team win. We don't want this season to end. We want to create more highlights, and hopefully win that national championship."
